


Darling

by cognitioncorsair



Category: Within The Wires
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Oleta's Escape, Post-Institute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7960087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cognitioncorsair/pseuds/cognitioncorsair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oleta escapes from The Institute, but something gets left behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darling

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before Cassette 6 and then edited to have their canon names, so just pretend that Hester never actually mentioned their names in the podcast.

It had been… days, probably, since the subject had left The Institute. Since the moment she stepped through her bedroom (cell) door, the hours had run together like the pool beneath the waterfall she lived behind for a day (week?), drops slamming into each other until each moment was indistinguishable from the next.

And then one day she staggered into a clearing and someone had come up behind her and wrapped their arms around her and she screamed, and they released her. And she remembered, somewhere in the back of her damaged mind: a voice, telling her to stop when she reached a clearing with three boulders in the center; a voice, somehow earning her trust; a voice, now standing in front of her and there was a body attached to it but the subject was tired, she was so tired and her eyes blurred over and she slept.

Later she came to and she screamed again, because there was white wall in front of her and a hand on her head and she knew none of it had happened, it had all been a dream. But she saw no needles, no stethoscopes, only the hand stroking her forehead and brushing through her thick curls.

The subject shot up, smacking the hand away and scrambling to the other end of the bed. The women who had been sitting on the edge of the bed stood up quickly. “Oh darling, darling I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” she murmured smoothly, her accent as prominent as ever. The subject said nothing, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She peeked over her knees at the woman.

She gradually began to relax, muscles losing their tensions, as she took in the woman’s calm, gentle posture and the few feet she had wisely retreated from the bed. But something about the woman- her bright blue eyes, shiny brown curls cascading down her back, her kind mouth- seemed to dig up dark feelings in the subject, though she had no idea why. She trusted this woman (trusted her voice, especially) but she didn’t know how she felt about her, exactly. It was… terrifying, to say the least.

“Oh dear, it’s alright,” the woman said soothingly, upon seeing a tear slide down the subject’s face. “May I sit next to you?”

The subject closed her eyes and breathed deep. She heard the woman laugh softly. “I suppose those cassettes were helpful in more ways than one.” The subject nodded.

“Is that… is that yes to the cassettes, or yes to me sitting next to you?” The subject nodded again. “Or both?” Another nod.

Her eyes remained closed as the bed dipped under the woman’s weight. She could feel heat radiating off the other’s body, although they remained apart.

“So,” the woman started, and then stopped. “Are you,” she tried again. “Do you remember me?”

The subject peeked out from under her lashes. She studied the woman’s face for a moment, before shaking her head. Her heart twisted at the woman’s expression of devastation. 

“I’m… I’m sorry too,” she whispered. Her voice was cracked from going so long without talking (it’s not as if she had anyone to talk to in the middle of nowhere, although The Institute wasn’t exactly a social paradise either) but still understandable. The woman sighed.

“Please, don’t feel bad, it’s not your fault. What The Institute does to its ‘patients’ is… so damaging. But we don’t need to talk about that right now.” She attempted a small smile, but looked more pained than ever. She reached over her body and offered the subject her hand, which was shaking slightly. The subject tentatively took it.

“I’m- Call me Hester,” she said, giving another sad smile.

The subject opened her mouth, then closed it again, her eyes widening.

Hester released her and leaned back, her eyes studying the subject concernedly. “Are you alright O- um, why don’t you tell me your name?”

The subject buried her face in her hands and let out a sob. “That’s the problem,” she cried disconsolately. “I don’t know… I don’t know who I am. I can’t remember my name.”

Hester grimaced and, taking a chance, wrapped her arms around the subject. “It’s The Institute,” she said, voice a mix of comforting and vengeful. “The horrible, awful, Institute. But they can’t hurt you here, dearie. Never again.”

The subject’s breath began to slow as Hester began to stroke her hair, whispering about how they were safe and everything was going to be ok. Eventually she sat up and wiped her eyes.

“Um… Hester ?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Do you… do you know what my name is?” The subject stared at her hands, now twisted in her lap.

Hester sighed. “Yes, I do. Do you want me to tell you what it- what is was?” The subject nodded and Hester let go of her, lifting her legs onto the bed and moving back to look at her.

“Oleta,” she said after a moment. “Just Oleta.”

The subject turned to look at her. “Are you sure?” she asked. Hester nodded and she looked away again. “It’s pretty,” she said. “But it doesn’t feel, I don’t know. Right? I was hoping I would recognize it when you said it, but there’s nothing there. They’re just words.” She covered her face again, tears welling up.

A hand reached out to touch her leg, rubbing it in slow, small circles. “It’s alright,” Hester soothed. “It’s been less than a week since you… escaped. Don’t feel pressured to get better right away.”

The subject sat for a minute before giving a very slight, almost imperceptible nod.

“Ole- well, I suppose I shouldn’t call you that, should I,” she said bitterly. The subject didn’t react.

“Is there… was there something else you went by? In The Institute? I mean I don’t want to bring back bad memories, of course, but you were in there for a long time and perhaps something familiar like that could make you more comfortable, after, well, after the shock of being here? Some of the, um, patients had little nickna-“

“Seven three three two.”

Hester’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, my darling,” she gasped. “I know, of course I know they give identification numbers, but I had no idea they. Oh god, that they actually told them to you. Referred to you that way.” Her other hand formed a fist. “I’m going to bring down that evil place if it bloody well kills me.”  
Her voice had risen almost to a shout, and the subject flinched, drawing back. Hester immediately relaxed.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, everything’s fine,” she babbled. “We’ll, um, Seven? Would you like me to call you Seven?”

The subject didn’t move.

“No, no, that’s awful, I’m sorry I even mentioned it.” Hester looked around frantically as if a new name would be lying around on the floor, maybe draped over the chair in the corner. She jumped up and started pacing, while the subject sat still on the bed.

“Oh darling, darling, I’m so so sorry. I’m sorry I left you, and, and, I’m so sorry for everything that happened to you. Oh darling, I,” she stopped when she saw the subject looking at her and smiling. She rushed back to the bed.

“What is it, darling?”

The smile grew. “Everything is going to be ok,” the subject said. “I- I trust you, somehow. You call me darling, and I just know that you care about me. I’ll find a name, one day. Or I won’t. But… I feel like as long as you care this much about me, as long as I’m ‘darling’ to you, that’s the only name I’ll need.”

Hester pulled the subject into her arms and buried her face in her shoulder. “I will always care about you, do you hear me? I will never leave you again. And that’s a promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first real fanfic, and (probably) the first Within The Wires fanfic in general, so I'm pretty excited! It's pretty much unedited, so feel free to point out typos or just let me know what you think~
> 
> Come scream about this podcast with me at withinthe-wires.tumblr.com :)


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